Fourteen-year-old accordionist from Pavlodar Olzhas Nurlanov participated in the 11thMoscow Meets Friends international festival for young musicians in the Russian capital from May 26 to June 5. Nurlanov, a recent graduate of Pavlodar’s music school for talented children, performed Vivaldi’s violin concerto “Winter,” from his “Four Seasons,” for the Moscow audience. Festival organisers say the young Kazakh musician astounded not only the sophisticated pubic, but also music critics and mature musicians.
“Olzhas was invited as one of the youngest accordionists. During the final concert, he played a score composed for violin, which is a challenging task, as the violin is a much more expressive musical instrument than the accordion. But he performed very well,” said the musician’s mother, Elena Porshneva.
The Pavlodar regional office for education noted the performance and called it one of the brightest events of the festival. After the show, representatives from the Vladimir Spivakov Fund, which arranges the festival, suggested that Nurlanov join the orchestra of the Russian maestro. He was invited to perform the full “Four Seasons” set with the famous orchestra. This concert programme is scheduled to tour Russia and also travel abroad.
This year’s Moscow Meets Friends festival was held as part of the Vladimir Spivakov Fund’s 20th anniversary celebrations. Around 1,500 young musicians from Russia and neighbouring countries performed at the festival. Concerts were held on different stages around the capital, as well as at the Michael Glinka Music Culture Museum, the House of Academics and the Feodor Chaliapin Memorial Homestead. On the first day, festival participants performed with the renowned Moscow Virtuosos State Chamber Orchestra, with Spivakov conducting.
Nurlanov started to play the accordion at age six. Despite his tender years, he has already won some recognition in the music world of Kazakhstan. He has performed at 20 different music competitions and international festivals, and his repertoire includes more than 100 classic, folk and modern compositions.
During a Kazakh accordion festival in 2012, Nurlanov was called “the future of the accordion music.” In the same year, he took first place at the fourth International Competition of Accordionists in China. According to his parents, the boy also composes his own music and is very interested in conducting.
